Tourism Development Strategy must take into account developments in competitor countries. Tourism market in Slovakia is under severe pressure from competitors in neighbouring countries, particularly Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. These countries are also direct competitors to the German market, the main source for inbound tourism for this part of the world. For this reason it is necessary to create a strategy for tourism development in Slovakia, which will take into account the competitive position of Slovakia in the Central European tourism market. It is also necessary to create a strategy based on the best and proven strategies and functional models of tourism policy in Western countries.

Analysis of tourism development in Slovakia as a precondition for strategic management application

The strategic analysis of the tourism development starting position is a precondition for the application of strategic management. The analysis comprises the external macroenvironment analysis of tourism, the analysis of the relevant external environment, and the internal environment analysis of tourism. Based on these analyses, it is possible to identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of tourism development in Slovakia. The analyses serve as fundamentals to set an appropriate development strategy and tourism policy.

External macro-environment analysis of tourism

Tourism as a sector of economy, social, legal, political, technological and ecological environment. Globalisation has caused that the scene of various influences formation takes place beyond the state borders. Mutual linkages among national economies and continuing progress of European integration should primarily be perceived as new trends and opportunities that are meant to be utilised for further development. Therefore, we will focus on the data that point out future potential development trends in terms of the globalisation process enforcement. At the same time, we will take them into account when identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threads.

a) Economic and social environment

The gross domestic product of Slovakia has had at a high growth rate since the existence of the independent republic. A dramatic drop of the growth rate, which felled to 1.4% was noted in 2000 (app. 1). Such a situation was caused by the fact that system reforms had been repeatedly postponed.